The Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Democrats have taken control of the Colorado Senate.

We think the Colorado Ethics Commission should follow the Colorado Open Records Act.

This might seem like a straightforward statement for a body created to foster public trust in government, but apparently not everyone sees it that way. The commission's executive director, Dino Ioannides, contends the commission — which investigates allegations of ethical wrongdoing against public officials — isn't subject to CORA because the commission is housed in the state's judicial branch.

Of course, it isn't clear there is much to support this shaky legal claim.

"A lot of agencies have rule-making authority," Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert told the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, which published a story earlier this month about the commission's efforts to draft its own rules for disclosure of its records, "but that doesn't mean you can promulgate rules outside of the law. Rules are promulgated to add clarity or to make administration more effective, but not to override statutes."

Other experts told the coalition the commission is opening itself up for a lawsuit by trying to draft its own rules.

That sounds like a pretty good reason for the commission to change course.

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But even if the commission does have the power — as its leader believes — to draft its own rules, it shouldn't.

"We need something that applies to us that says the public has access to information," Ioannides told the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. "This is about saying the public has access to information in the IEC context."

If that's the motive for drafting rules, it would seem to us the commission simply could state it will follow CORA. This is important not only because CORA is time-tested and approved by the state's elected leaders who are directly accountable to the people but because the proposed rules for the commission are more restrictive than the state's existing law.

Indeed, we think the ethics commission, as much as any state body, should err on the side of the greatest possible public access to information. Every case the commission handles involves public employees. It should go without saying records of these investigations are public.

The Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Broadcasters Association, along with the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition have raised the alarm about the commission's plans to write its own rules.

"It seems particularly offensive, and ironic, that an entity established to address ethical issues in state government, and thereby foster greater public trust in governmental institutions, should be subject to less public access than other governmental entities in Colorado," wrote Jerry Raehal, CEO of the press association, and Justin Sasso, president and CEO of the broadcasters association, in a recent letter condemning the proposed rules.

We would add our voice to theirs. We hope Ionnides will reconsider his efforts to skirt the state's longstanding public information standard. It would be, in a manner of speaking, the ethical thing to do.